LEESPORT — A Birdsboro man was held on charges of trying to hire a hit man after jailhouse wiretap conversations about “removing” previous victims and witnesses was played at a preliminary hearing Tuesday.

Christopher D. Yingling, 42, who is also charged with attempted murder and sex abuse of a teenager, was ordered held for trial on five counts of soliciting someone to murder the victims in both those cases, as well as other witnesses and “anyone who got in the way.”

A man serving time in the Berks County prison system for drug offenses testified before Magisterial Justice Thomas W. Gauby Sr. that he spoke with Yingling about the possible hits after informing prison officials, who alerted Berks County Detectives, of Yingling’s alleged plans.

The informant’s identity is being withheld for his safety.

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Yingling allegedly wanted to kill Glen Russell, the Limerick fire official he is accused of shooting multiple times in the head in a Spring Township parking lot Jan. 24. Russell was waiting in a parking lot for a court-appointed meeting with his ex-wife, who was reportedly Yingling’s girlfriend.

During the hearing, the prisoner informant said Yingling “bragged” about shooting Russell while in jail.

Yingling is also charged with sex crimes against a 14-year-old girl. According to the Berks County District Attorney’s office, Yingling sexually assaulted, raped and forced the girl to call his acquaintances and offer sex for money multiple times since at least last summer. He allegedly also took naked pictures of her with his cell phone and sent them to others.

Despite originally befriending Yingling, the informant said he pulled away when Yingling told him about the child sex charges.

According to the informant, Yingling wanted those kept secret within the prison community, as he was afraid he’d be “kicked off the (cell) block” and/or “beat up.”

“Since there was a child involved,” the prisoner decided to help law enforcement out in their investigation against Yingling, the informant said.

Berks County Detective Ivan R. Martinez said the prisoner told a prison official about Yingling’s alleged plans to order a hit on at least Russell and the 14-year-old victim. The prison official alerted Martinez May 25 and an investigation was launched.

Martinez said he immediately spoke to Russell about the situation and also put the Limerick Police on alert.

In the conversations played during the hearing, the informant wore a wire and discussed who Yingling allegedly wanted to kill and how it could be done.

“You’ll have to take him out in the house,” the voice allegedly belonging to Yingling in the recording said. The same voice also mentions about dealing with “the kid.”

Yingling also allegedly told the informant to take money and a Rolex watch from the house after the killings.

“This guy is not somebody you need to worry about,” Yingling allegedly said on the tape, his voice coming across as casual and metered, speaking about Russell, the district attorney’s office believes.

At one point in the recording, it was agreed that the informant’s cousin would do the hits. The voice allegedly belonging to Yingling asked whether the cousin would be able to kill a “kid,” which the informant, on the tape, assured him he could.

“You’ve got to get rid of him first,” Yingling allegedly said, presumably referring to Russell again.

Yingling allegedly wrote a letter to his brother, Brian, detailing that he was supposed to provide a specific pickup truck and a Mossberg 500 shotgun to the cousin.

“I’m going to tell (Brian), ‘Whatever (the informant’s cousin) says, I said,’” Yingling allegedly said on the recording.

The informant said he was given a letter June 1 with directions for Brian Yingling in it to pass on. The informant then passed the letter on to Martinez.

An undercover Berks County detective posed as the informant’s cousin June 6 and spoke with Brian Yingling, according to Martinez. However, Brian did not “follow up” on the letter’s directives, Martinez said.

A search warrant was served June 11 at Brian Yingling’s house, during which the shotgun was seized. Martinez said Brian complied with the warrant.

Christopher Yingling’s attorney, Liz Ebner, questioned the informant whether her client ever used the word “kill” during their conversations in regard to the job.

The informant said that, at some point, Yingling had, but whenever Yingling referred to “removing” someone, he knew what it meant.

“You can’t mistake that,” the informant said.

Ebner also argued that Yingling should only face one or two charges of solicitation for murder since, on the tape, it seemed that he agreed that only Russell and the 14-year-old would be required to be killed.

However, the prosecuting attorney, Jesse Leisawitz, an assistant district attorney, argued that Yingling mentioned several names of those who should be killed and never specifically told the informant that the other people he listed should be spared.

Gauby agreed with Leisawitz and held Yingling on all five counts. Yingling’s bail remains at $500,000 cash in that case.

The trial in Yingling’s shooting case is set to begin in July, according to court documents.

LEESPORT — The Birdsboro man accused of attempting to hire a hit man was held on those charges after a preliminary hearing Tuesday.

Christopher D. Yingling, 42, who is also charged with attempted murder and sex abuse of a teenager, was held for charges that he tried to hire someone to murder the victims in both those cases, as well as other witnesses and “anyone who got in the way.”

A man serving time in the Berks County prison system for drug offenses allegedly helped Berks County Detectives through a wiretap to gain evidence through a conversation.

In that conversation, it was allegedly decided that the man with the wiretap or his cousin would carry out a hit on Glen Russell, the Limerick fire official allegedly shot by Yingling in January, and the 14-year-old girl accusing Yingling of prostituting her out to acquaintances and sexually abusing her at least since last summer.